When the call to arms was made in 1861, men from all walks of life answered, including a number from the Jewish community. They served the Confederate States with honor, and once the conflict was over, those who survived took their places as leaders of the community.

The first local citizen wounded in the Vicksburg campaign was Philip Sartorius, and the last local veteran of the Lost Cause was Louis Hornthal, who died in 1939; both are buried in Anshe Chesed Cemetery along with at several other Confederate veterans, including Jacob Gusdofer, Morris Gusdofer and A. B. Kuhn, of General Wirt Adams' Cavalry; Emanuel Teller of the 18th North Carolina Infantry; and Leon Fischel of the 15th Battalion of Louisiana Cavalry, of which group Sartorius was also a member; and Louis Hornthal of the Sartartia Rifles, which became Company 1 of the 12th Mississippi.

CSA veterans buried at Anshe Chesed also include David Beer of the 7th Miss. Inf and Herman Nauen of the 13th La Inf.

Pvt. Raphael Dreyfus (see photo at right), 27th Louisiana Infantry, Co. G, is the only soldier with a military stone, which was not erected until 1998. Dreyfus, whose name was spelled Draifouse in the Louisiana records, was buried in the old Jewish cemetery in 1862 and moved to the new one in 1865.

The first rabbi to be interred here, Bernard H. Gotthelf, wore the blue during the War Between the States. In death all were at peace, all were brothers.

Pvt R Draifouse
Co G
27 La Inf
CSA
Aug 25 1862
Aged 22 Years

For his military record, see

https://www.fold3.com/image/271/82684588

Photo by Bryan Skipworth

Rabbi Bernhard H. Gotthelf, born February 5, 1819, was a Union chaplain who served as the first rabbi in Vicksburg. He died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1878.

Rabbi Herman M. Bien (1835 - 1895) was born in Hesse Cassel, Germany.

Rabbi Sol L. Kory (1879 - 1936) linked the local Orthodox and Reform congregations.

Rabbi Adolf Philipps born (1836 - 1987) escaped the Nazi Holocaust.